BRPD: Teenage girl shot in May dies

BRPD: Teenage girl shot in May dies

A 16-year-old Baker girl who was paralyzed from the neck down as a result of gunshot wounds suffered in early May died Wednesday from “complications due to gunshot wounds,” the East Baton Rouge Parish coroner said Friday.

Mary Johnson, 13202 Morvant St., was shot in the neck and back at 12:08 a.m. May 5 in the 3700 block of Topeka Street after allegedly refusing to have sex with the suspect, Dedric White, 18, 4115 Mohican St., said Baton Rouge police Cpl. L’Jean McKneely.

McKneely said he did not know if Johnson and White knew each other prior to that night.

Dr. William “Beau” Clark said his preliminary finding is that Johnson died from sepsis, developed from pneumonia. Clark said sepsis is an overwhelming bacterial infection, and in this case, her pneumonia became so bad that it left the lungs and spread to the rest of the body.

“I would classify it as ‘complications due to gunshot wounds,’ meaning the gunshot didn’t actually kill her,” Clark said.

Their inability to move makes quadriplegics at greater risk for infections, Clark said.

James Freeman Jr., 33, of New Orleans, the husband of Johnson’s foster sister, said Johnson loved to dance and was the life of the party.